Harry Potter and Avalon
by mackiechandler
Summary: What if Harry doesn't learn magic in Hogwarts? What if he learns it on his own?
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter and Avalon

JKR owns all characters. I'm just playing.

Chapter 1

Petunia Dursley didn't just despise and dislike the freak. She hated him. She hated having him in her house, breathing the same air as her sweet normal family.

And now she was stuck on vacation with her sweet Dudley, his little friend Piers and the freak. Every site of that messy dark head made her blood pressure rise. He was only good to work and be shut away. Taking food from her little boy's mouth, he was, useless, awful freak. Reminding her of things she couldn't have, but no she didn't care for that. She worked for a living. She was normal. He had to learn that he wouldn't have things easy.

So when they checked into the room, she made harry go to the bathroom and then sit in the closet. He didn't deserve food, of course, because he was useless, although he was forced to clean the bathroom again. After all, he had used it, and who knew what germs freaks carried?

Piers enjoyed the first part of the trip with Dudley and his mum very much. He didn't mind beating up the Freak, after all, a grownup thought it was okay to beat the little shite, so it was okay. Piers would rather do that then deal with an out-of-sorts Dudley, who could be mean as hell.

He watched Petunia force the boy to clean the hotel bathroom and then kick him into the closet. They all went to eat dinner, except the Freak, and when they were done, Piers, not really caring, asked, "What about the freak? Should we give him some food?"

The twin glares that the Dursley family turned upon him scared him. "And why would we do that, Dear?" asked Mrs. Dursley in a sweet motherly voice that wasn't motherly.

"Won't he starve and be good for nothing if you don't feed him?" asked Piers her carefully, and watched with relief as her face composed.

"We starve him all the time and he doesn't die," announced Dudley.

"Oh, that's okay then," Piers said quickly, shrugging as though it didn't matter, "Just didn't want to miss out on our Harry Hunting."

Dudley grinned, and clapped his shoulder. "Yeah," he agreed.

They went out to the amusement park and had a blast, and Dudley ate too much and got sick. They returned to the hotel, and Dudley beat the freak because everything was his fault and went to bed. Mrs. Dursley took the freak by the arm and muttered about going for a walk. The freak looked terrified as she drug him out the door.

Piers sat and looked at the door and listened to Dudley's snoring start up. He quietly got up and got his phone and decided to go out. Not even knowing why, because he didn't care about the freak one way or the other, he walked around town and went toward the road that went to the beaches because Mrs. Dursley said that that was a lovely place for a walk.

He turned on his phone and took pictures of the ocean and setting sun and continued on, taking pictures of the rocks below the roadway with waves crashing on them, and the birds crossing the sky. It was very nice.

Then he heard Mrs. Dursley say, "come along, you should see the ocean at least once in your life."

Piers sited Mrs. Dursley and the Freak ahead of them on the roadway and pushed "video".

"Come HARRY," said Mrs. Dursley and her voice was cruel. "Come and see the ocean." She lifted the boy up, as he couldn't see over the heavy stone railing and stood him there, teetering a bit on the cold stones.

The freak looked out over the crashing waves, and then Mrs. Dursley grabbed him again and threw him hard into the ocean.

Piers nearly screamed and bit him tongue in terror. Mrs. Dursley was standing there laughing with glee and the freak was gone, gone far down onto the rocks and ocean waves.

Piers stopped the recording and dived into a bush. It had thorns but he bloody didn't care. Mrs. Dursley was mad. She had killed the freak. Piers didn't think being a bully was so bad, but murder was a whole other thing. The Freak, no Harry Potter, who no one loved and who slaved away daily at the Dursley's house, was gone forever. The crash of the waves below was the only noise in a world where a little boy's quiet voice was gone forever.

Maybe Mrs. Dursley would decide Piers was a freak now and kill him. Piers nearly peed his pants but waited, with instincts honed by his beginners career as a bully, thug and junior criminal. He heard her footsteps, officiously clipping away as she left the bridge and made her way back to the hotel. He sat, bleeding from various thorns and concentrating on not peeing his pants or scream until he couldn't hear her anymore.

Then he waited a good long while listening to the ocean waves, until with more caution then he had taken, even when he stole fifty quid from the grocer's shop from that man's dropped wallet, and carefully stuck his head out, surveyed the surroundings and then started running. This was a small town, but he remembered where the cop shop was, he'd taken note as they'd driven in. He stopped once, and puked in some nice yard, almost as nice as the yard the Dursley's had Freak… no Harry slaving away in. Would they find another freak to do yard work? Another "nephew" to beat and starve and work to death in rags?

He ran into the cop shop and then rang the bell. The policeman that opened the door looked at him with a jaded expression, "Lost your Mum?" the man asked.

"Let me in and I'll tell you," said Piers, happy for the first time in his life to be at a police station. "Please for the love of God let me in."

The copper's face changed and a look of interest came over him. "Come in,"

Soon Piers was drinking hot coffee sitting in a chair, trying very hard not to blubber and feeling not at all embarrassed for tears running down his cheeks.

"You say this lady killed this lad by tossing him over the bridge," said Officer Pendleton, more interested now. "Why would she do that?"

"Because they consider him a freak. He does all the work, they beat him and starve him and Dudley gets to beat him up." Piers stopped and looked at the man with horror. "I helped Dudley – I thought they were right – they were the grownups."

Piers started to heave and Officer Pendleton grabbed a waste paper basket and held him and then got him some water.

Officer Pendleton called someone on the phone and then started to ask more questions. His voice was kind now.

"Am I a bad person?" said Piers.

"You might have started out going that way, but you have a chance now to change it," said Officer Pendleton. Piers hoped that was true more than anything. He kept thinking of how Harry hadn't said a thing, not even a squeak when Mrs. Dursley threw him in the ocean.

Officer Pendleton's boss came and Piers could tell that HE thought Piers was lying through his teeth. Piers took out his cell phone and showed the video. After that, no one thought he was lying. All of a sudden the police station was full of men and women, with hard expression, busy, like a whirlwind and Piers was the center of it.

"Should I call my mum?" asked Piers at one point. "We are sending an officer to the house," said Office Jack Pendleton.

Then they brought in Mrs. Dursley and a sleepy looking Dudley. She looked mad and glared about the room, acting like the officers were all fools. Then she saw Piers and turned white for a moment. Piers felt sick again but Office Jack put his hand on his shoulder and Piers found it rare steadying. He couldn't remember his Da at all. This was almost like having a real one.

Mrs. Dursley started yell about normal people and Piers found he couldn't stand to look at her. Without even asking, Officer Jack took him into another room to wait for Mum.

Piers told the officers about Harry not being fed all the time and eating scraps. He told them that Harry never got new clothes. He told them that Harry slept in the cupboard under the stairs. The officers looked at each other and asked about Dudley. He told them how spoiled Dudders was, how he was encouraged to beat Harry, about how he and Dudley bullied kids. Piers looked down and realized his hands were shaking. Officer Jack sat with him and put an arm around him. Piers decided he liked policemen. They knew what to do and they protected people. He had never thought like that before.

Then Mum came and Piers ran into her arms and held on like he used to when he was little and scared and didn't care if anyone saw him hugging his Mum at all. She was the best thing in the world. And she understood and wasn't mad at him. She held him hard and whispered that it would be all right, that she was there.


	2. Chapter 2

The neighbors at #4 Privet Lane were always watching; watching each other, each other's children, each other's cars, their yards, everything they could. It was better than the telly. And everyone watched the Dursley's because they had that criminal boy. Everyone made sure to keep all their children away from him. Because they knew he was a criminal that the poor Dursleys were stuck with. Anything odd about the boy was because he was a Bad Seed. No one noticed that pets liked the boy (except the one that belonged to Marge Dursley), or that tiny children immediately trusted him. His worn clothing was clothing the boy insisted on. His lack of toys was because he broke them all. His constant working was to keep him out of trouble. Oh he was a very bad boy, he was, and thank heavens that Petunia, Vernon and Dudley warned everyone about him.

Oh the neighbors watched. So when a police car and a van pulled up in front of the Dursleys, every window in the neighborhood had eyes peering out with interest. When several officers and even what looked like a detective knocked on the door and rang the bell, the neighbors got even more interested. When another car pulled up with Piers and his Mum, phones started to ring.

When Piers and his mother were escorted to the door and taken into the house, all was quiet for five or ten minutes. Then the bellowing started. It sounded like when Harry had done something wrong, even though Harry was out of town with his Aunt and Cousin. Then the door exploded open and Vernon was escorted out in handcuffs, his clothing torn and his face purple with rage.

"This is an insult! We're good, upstanding citizens," he screamed. Then Piers' Mum came out and was crying and holding Piers. An officer was holding Piers' shoulder and speaking softly. One younger officer looked really sick, green to the gills, as they say.

Then a grim forensics team went into the house, and Piers and his mother were driven away.

More policemen came, and finally neighbors began to wander out to take little walks down Privet Drive. They carefully hung around on the sidewalk, listening.

One of the forensic staff came out and looked angry. He was speaking, almost yelling to his companion, "Did you see how much blood that damn broom cupboard had in it? It's like they F'ing painted it. He was just a little boy!" Any doubt of it being the "freak" was put to rest by that little tidbit. Dudley was many things, but little he wasn't.

Mrs. Figg, their neighborhood cat lady wandered over and spoke to the officers. After a few words, she began to cry and then launched into full out sobs. "I told him he was too thin. I told him about the bruises."

"Who is this, Ma'am?" asked the officers gently. "Albus Dumbledore," she spat. "He asked me to tell him how the boy was doing. He was paying the Dursley's to help them with the expense of the child and asked me to make sure the boy was in good hands. I told him that his clothing was worn, practically rags and that he was always working and that he never had toys. I even complained to the authorities several times when he was so bruised but no one did anything. That poor, poor child."

The police eyed one-another with interest and the neighbors eyed Mrs. Figg, who looked ready to faint. She was helped home by a not-so-helpful but wildly interested neighbor and over the next few days was inundated with invitations to tea. She had never been so popular with her neighbors before.

Instead of the crowd getting smaller, it got larger. A news truck with a satellite dish on it drove up and the neighbors got even more excited. Soon they learned from a reporter that the "freak" had been murdered by Mrs. Dursley; tossed in the ocean and it was videotaped. The authorities were looking for his body even now.

Scotland Yard was called in, a special unit dealing with extreme child abuse, and some people put chairs in the front yards so they could snoop more conveniently. More people from surrounding neighborhoods showed up. More details came up as more reporters showed. The Forensics teams reported to the Scotland Yard team and then made an announcement, showing photographs of a little cupboard, where the boy was kept locked up. Evidence of beatings, blood stains that had been washed, made the black light they used to show blood stains revealed blood all over the cupboard, the kitchen, the stairs, the walls.

The crowd of outsiders began to get rather maudlin. Some women in the group began to cry for the poor boy. People began to get flowers. The neighbors went inside their houses when a woman asked one man why they hadn't done a thing. He tried to explain that the Dursley's had told them the boy was a bad child, and had been diagnosed with criminal tendencies. The woman then said, "what bad things did he do?"

No one could think of anything. Now Dudley was known for beating up children, and breaking toys, and being a right little monster. When the neighbors brought this up, the woman had sniffed at them. "So a child that was covered in bruises and rags was never helped because the adults told you he was a bad child even though you never saw him do anything." She left and the neighbors began to feel a bit nervous. Things happening in the neighborhood were supposed to lead to delicious gossip, not to guilt.

Soon flowers and teddy bears were placed at a makeshift altar.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Albus Dumbledore was away at a Ministry of Magic event when an alarm went off in his office. It whined plaintively for hours until a nervous house elf brought it to Professor Sprout's attention. It was summer vacation and she was the only staff member besides the elves of course, on site. Even Professor Snape was on an herb finding journey during the summer months.

She used Hogwarts emergency access protocol. "Hogwarts," she said, "I am the only Professor here and an alarm is going in the Headmaster's office. May I enter his office?"

The gargoyles rolled aside and she found the alarm tied to the wards on Harry Potter's home had gone off.

Immediately going to the Owlry, she sent a message to Dumbledore. "Alarms on Harry Potter's home"

Meanwhile on Privet Drive, a full-fledged media frenzy was growing. Some bright young reporter had snuck into the house with a camera crew and took pictures of the perfect house and the cupboard under the stairs as well as a chain and blanket in the little building that housed the garden tools. The TV special painted a picture of a perfect family that were perfect monsters. The beautiful, well kept garden, the spotless kitchen, and the blood stained cupboard with a dusty mattress and ragged blanket were all made known. The pathetic sign in crayon that said, "Harry's room," brought many people to tears.

"5 year old nephew kept as slave and murdered by Aunt – News at 11,"

An old man in odd rather outdated clothing walked among the crowd. He nodded pleasantly to the policeman who was now keeping people from entering the house. A policeman's yellow "police line – do not enter" tape was across the front door. "Young man,' asked the older man who had a most prodigious white beard, "What happened here?"

"Bloody hell, Sir, this lot kept their nephew as a slavey, abused and starved him, and then the blighters murdered the poor tyke." The officer looked angry and struggled to keep his face straight, although the redness was a give-away.

"Surely that can't be true. Wasn't the child a blood relative, a member of their family?" asked the man in grandfatherly tones.

"Some will hurt their own blood. We don't understand it, but we can bring justice," was the Officer's stern reply.

The old man looked troubled. "May I speak with the head investigator?" he asked politely.

"Why, Sir? He is terrible busy."

The old man gave the officer a card that said Albus Dumbledore. The officer read it and suddenly snapped to attention. "Sir, let me see if he is available. Stay right here."

Then the officer rushed into the house and came out with a grim faced officer who strode to the old man.

"Professor Dumbledore?" he asked.

"Yes, young man," said the grandfatherly man with the twinkling eyes, "I am sorry to bother you, but .."

The Lieutenant interrupted him, "Excuse me, but are you the acquaintance of Ms. Arabella Fig."

Albus wasn't nervous; what could a mere muggle do to him? He was a master of magic, after all.

"Why yes, she is a friend."

"Please, Sir, it looks like we both have questions for each other," and bemused, the Defeater of Grindenwald followed the Lieutenant into the house. He noted that all the wards were utterly destroyed. The entire house had an ugly spirit to it that he had never seen before except in tombs infested with wraiths.

"Please, Professor Dumbledore, would you like a cup of tea?" asked the Lieutenant while the younger officer quickly prepared tea and lemon bars for them.

Once he was refreshed, the Lieutenant said, "Have you been corresponding with Arabella Fig about Harry Potter?"

Dumbledore's eyes stopped twinkling and he frowned, "Well, I knew Harry's parents. I was executor for their estate. I saw to it that his Aunt and Uncle received a good amount of income for taking Harry in. Arabella, who is an old friend, did correspond with me about Harry. I'm afraid I have been rather behind and perhaps did not take her seriously." He humphed softly, "Bruises, every little boy worth his salt is covered with bruises. And they all tear up their clothing. My mother threatened to use glue to keep them on my when I ran free in my younger days. I was a ruination to them. And hungry – boys are always hungry."

The Lieutenant, who had looked very grim, now looked at him with pity. "We don't have all the information, but we have testimony that indicates the child didn't run about and play. He worked from sunrise to sunset. He cooked all the food, kept up the gardening, cleaned the house, did repairs, all the chores. He wore the older boy's discards, which were too big for him. He was starved, Professor, starved. He ate their meal scraps! He is 8 years old and looks like a 4 or 5 year old child. His cousin chased him and beat him. They told the school that Harry was criminally inclined and he had no friends, or Dudley, his cousin, would beat any ideas of friendship out of them. We found what appeared to be blood traces and after more laboratory testing, have determined it was the boy's blood. He bled in the cupboard mostly, and the walls by the cupboard. There are some signs of trauma along the wall, as though the boy's head had been shoved into it. And worst of all, the kitchen cast iron pan has his blood on it. Probably a head wound. This child grew up in the worst sort of environment."

Professor Dumbledore's eyes filled with tears, "But how could they? He was a child, just a precious little boy. They had all the money they needed. The house is actually his property. And they, why, they abused him!"

"And apparently they received child welfare for the boy's benefit. He didn't see a penny of it." The Lieutenant looked rather angry again, but then worried as the older man began to look a bit feeble.

"Professor, are you all right?" he asked gently, worried that the old man was going to have a heart attack.

"Evil, such evil. I thought they would love him. They wanted for nothing." Professor Dumbledore murmured.

The Lieutenant and the officers present treated the older man kindly. They knew that sometimes good decent people had no clue about the evil that lurks in some so-called respectable hearts. When he appeared better, they let him go, and mourned the little boy that he had failed.

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter

"11:00 Special Edition: This is Leon Harmaster with the News. Tonight we have a special story that happened in our own backyard in an upper middleclass home in a good neighborhood. And despite that, we have learned that a small boy, a blood-relative of the accused was worked as a slave, defrauded, abused, starved and finally murdered by his Aunt this week."

The newscaster, a handsome tall man, had a stern look on features that were usually genial.

"Here you see their perfect house, well kept up. What isn't seen is that the child did all the work, a small boy, the size of a 5 year old pushing an old mower kept this place as pristine as a golf course. He planted, weeded, and planned the garden. He painted a 2-story house by himself with no adult supervision." Scenes of the outside of the house showed a home that would make any realtor weep for joy. It looked like a magazine picture of a perfect home.

"Here you see the interior of the house, the spotlessly clean abode of the Dursley family. Here is the kitchen, where Harry, the victim, cooked on a chair from the age of 4. He made every meal, but seldom received anything but leftovers. He was not allowed to eat at the table after cooking, because Harry was a freak, and freaks don't deserve to eat with the family."

Leon stared into the camera. "Here is the living room, where the child was not allowed to sit on the furniture he kept in pristine condition. Here are the bedrooms. You will note there are 4 bedrooms in this house. One for the accused, Petunia Dursley, which she shared with her husband Vernon, who is at the moment under arrest on heavy suspicion of child abuse. Here is the guest room." Leon's piercing eyes twitched and his lip curled. "And here, gentle audience, is Dudley, the Dursley's son's bedroom and his second bedroom, which holds all of Dudley's broken toys."

"Now where do you think that Harry slept?" he asked, "the little child that did all the work while his aunt read magazines and gossiped? Harry didn't sleep up here with the normal people. Harry slept down here," he lead the camera down the stairs to the little closet and opened the door. The camera panned in to show a tiny broom closet with a dirty mattress in one corner. A little crayola sign was taped to the wall over it, "Harry's Room". Unusually beautiful crayoned pictures with flights of fantasy depicted were also carefully taped up. Some had obviously been ripped and then laboriously put back together.

Leon Harmaster pointed at the broom closet and stared at his audience, "This is where the child that the Dursley's claimed welfare monies on slept. This is where the child who owned this house as part of his parent's estate slept. This is where the child whose parents' estate paid the equivalent of a good salary for his upkeep slept."

"We have investigated this case and learned that while Dudley received all his shots and inoculations, and regularly received childhood checkups, none of the medical facilities that cared for this family even knew there was another child. The glasses that Harry wore were picked up out of a 2nd hand bin. No dentist ever checked Harry's teeth even though the money provided the family through his family estate and welfare provided enough that they didn't need to work. Instead the Dursleys had a new car each year and Dudley had an entire toy store's worth of toys. They took lavish vacations, during which periods Harry stayed with a neighbor to do her chores. This neighbor told the authorities and the executor for the estate that Harry was abused. She sent detailed reports from the time the child was 4 until he died. No one listened."

Harmaster continued, "Now let us see what is so different about this little boy. How do we define the word freak? This is a recording of an interview with Dudley Dursley, made before he was sent to Children's services."

The video showed an enormous boy sitting and sloppily eating two hamburgers and noisily slurping on a coke, while a reporter sat patiently.

"So Mr. Dursley, what can you tell us about your cousin Harry?"

"Who, the freak? Well he's a freak. He does everything wrong, and he doesn't deserve anything. Dad and Mum are trying hard to train him so he'll be useful, but things go wrong him all the time, so he has to be punished. I help Dad with that. He does weird things that normal people shouldn't do."

"What kind of weird things?"

"Well one time, one of the teachers at school had her hair turn blue in his class. We knew it was the freak and boy did he get it from Dad. One time I was chasing him and he got up on the roof. He was weird, a freak. He brought us bad luck, even though we were kind enough to give him a home."

Then finally the news story showed Piers' horrifying phone video of Petunia tossing Harry into the ocean. After the video aired, Leon said to his audience, "What kind of people decide that a child is bad luck or freaky and then treat him like this. Are we guilty of letting people hurt their own children? Great Britain is a civilized nation, my friends, but this was not civilized. It is a travesty and we must do something to prevent it happening again."

The news report was an immediate sensation and was copied over the internet. The story of the little boy in the cupboard touched lives, broke hearts and eventually raised money to help fight child abuse.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was a quiet day in the Leaky Cauldron until a wildly upset wizard ran in with the latest edition of the Prophet in his hands, "Harry Potter is dead; his damn muggle auntie threw him off a bridge into the ocean to die. He's dead, the Boy Who Lived is Dead and Dumbledore left him with those scum."

"Here, here now, let's see that. A huge crowd came up to the bar as Tom, the bartender and owner of the Leaky Cauldron read the article with growing dismay. Finally he looked up at all his regulars with tears on his wrinkled cheeks, 'He's right lads, Dumbledore was told the boy was abused and did nothing. She out and out murdered him. And the muggles are in an uproar about it. They don't know he's the boy that lived, but they know a child was done for by blood kin and are up in arms about it. He showed them a wizard photo of the house and the little makeshift altar of candles and teddy's with signs on it say, "You broke our hearts, little boy" and "Always in our memories."

"What are the bears for?" asked one wizard, "They're like the stuffed dragons we give magical children. A gift for an innocent child."

"We ought to have a memorial too. The muggles are out doing us."

A tiny man wrestled his way to the bar, "What's this?" asked Filius Flitwick, Charms Professor Extraordinaire.

"Harry Potter was murdered under Dumbledore's watch," was the stunning news.

Filius looked green as he snatched the paper, "Minerva McGonagall and I asked several times to visit and check on him and he assured us that the lad was safe and happy; that he would be safer if kept away from the magic world. This says his muggle family was working him like a house elf. They starved him and beat him. How could this be?"

Filius handed back the paper. "I must tell Minerva. James and Lily's were almost like family to us, to know that Harry was harmed is unbelievable. I must go."

News spread until every street corner in every magic town was filled with angry or sad witches and wizards.

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter

Albus Dumbledore had just returned to his office sanctuary in Hogwarts Castle, when he was besieged by a flurry of teachers asking about the Potter child.

"Albus!" said Minerva, "I told you those were the worst sort of muggles…"

"Albus, is it true that you left Lily's child with Petunia Dursley?" said Severus Snape.

Albus stared at them sadly. "Never would I have imagined a family could be so cruel to a little child. I thought Arabella was exaggerating. I always believed in the love of family, of blood relatives."

Everyone stopped and realized that the Headmaster looked ill.

Snape took control, "Poppy, please attend to the Headmaster. It appears that this situation has shocked his system."

So instead of being roundly yelled at, the Headmaster went to the school hospital and was given calming draughts and treated for shock. He slept badly for days and awoke to a summons to the Ministry of Magic that didn't bode well.

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter

The Wizengott was an august group of self important bigots with lots of money and power and a tendency to ignore the world of muggles. Today, however, one of their own, a hero whose name was known to all, had died at the hand of a muggle relative and to a man, the usually contentious body wanted to know why.

The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had always felt that Dumbledore despised him, so today would be a triumph for him. He almost licked his lips, but kept to his important public persona, of sorrowful and outraged public citizen, mourning the death of their hero. Privately, he could care less, but it was a great opportunity to destroy an enemy, or better yet, to take him out of the running.

When Dumbledore entered, he didn't have his usual chipper demeanor. He was sad and looked older. Fudge had to bite his own tongue to keep from smiling. How lovely that Dumbledore was so affected. It would make everything easier.

"Professor Dumbledore, you are called here today to answer questions regarding the care of Harry Potter. You made yourself his Guardian of Magic. Our investigation shows that not only did you put the child in the care of muggle relatives that were explicitly called out in the Potter Wills as both unacceptable and unwanted as guardians, but you also suppressed the reading of the will. Now the news of poor young Mr. Potter's dreadful murder by his atrocious relatives seems to be in line with the information given out in the will. Also the will calls out that Sirius Black was not the secret keeper for the Potters, but instead Peter Pettigrew. The will also notes that Sirius Black, James Potter and Pettigrew were all unregistered animagi, and the Pettigrew in particular was a rat," Said Cornelius officiously, "Further, we have learned from the goblins that you withdrew money, treasures and books of magic from the vault. While some of the money purportedly paid for Harry's care with the muggles, much more was used by you. Tell me, were you planning on killing the child to take his inheritance?"

Since this information was previously unknown, the hallowed halls burst out with shouts, accusations, a few screams and in general, mayhem. It was music to Cornelius' ears.

Dumbledore seemed to realize his predicament. "The child has a prophecy on him and Voldermort. The child is the chosen one, who must destroy Voldermort. Voldermorte is not completely dead but is in wraith form now due to use of blackest magic. This was why I kept the child with his family. I wanted him safe from Death Eaters who may have been told of this by their master, and so he wouldn't let his fame go to his head. In order to kill Voldermort finally, the child was supposed to die while fighting him. It was the only way to defeat him."

His voice filled with sorrow, Dumbledore sat down, while everyone yelled about prophecies, not sharing valuable information and his own general lack of caring for a child. This torrent turned into a flood. First he was stripped of the head-mastery of Hogwarts. Then he was struck from his place on the Wizengott and then his representation on the international conference of wizards. He was retired with pension, but his political clout was completely gone. The newspapers labeled him as the Man who Forgot Harry Potter. All the money he removed for his own purposes was paid back from his account and people who had greeted him on the street, now turned away and refused to acknowledge him.

Cornelius Fudge decided to make political capitol out of this travesty, and started a school for squibs and youngsters, and named it "The Harry Potter Elementary School of magic". It was for children before the age of Hogwarts, and he also, with the full approval of the Wizengott, passed laws protecting children, even squibs. Because Harry's murder had nearly started attacks on muggles, until they saw footage of muggles weeping for their hero because he was just a little boy, now squibs and muggles were seen in a kinder light. Further interviews with Arabella Fig showed how hard she had fought to help Harry and how no one had listened to her. That a mere squib had fought so hard for a magic child and with such passion, started a new day in the Wizarding world, where squib children were treated better and no longer tossed into the cruel and unfamiliar muggle world when they were eleven years old.

A Department to check children for abuse was started and all children at magical nurseries, the new elementary school and Hogwarts were tested physically and magically for signs of harm. This spread into looking for emotional abuse as well, and the Wizarding world found that their mental health was far behind some of the muggle methods. Since many squibs had studied these areas just as a way of understanding their own lives of deprivation and abandonment, they found themselves being welcome back into the Wizarding world and treated with new respect.

Fudge became famous for revamping the education system to treasure all children. Other abused magic children were found and rescued, and put in the Harry Potter School as boarders and taught all the things that pure blood children take for granted.

He also was famous for making sure that no one could get a knut of Harry's money and instead arranged that it be held in perpetuity for possible squib lines of the Potter family.

After a rabid audit of the schools funds, classes, schedules, policies and all records, Minerva McGonagle was made the new Headmistress with Filius Flitwick as the Assistant Headmaster. Snape was fired for being an ex-death eater, only his willingness to confess using a verasiterium potion got him out of Azkaban when it was discovered he was a spy for the light and had not participated in Death Eater activities. Minerva arranged a small pension for him, and the Potions Master left to do what he loved most, experimental potions. He was stripped of all his teaching credentials and the children clapped and cheered when they found he was leaving. He sneered happily at everyone, and waved goodbye.

His name was used to frighten first years for generations to come.

And the magical and muggle worlds went on.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry had never been taken on a walk by himself for any reason by his Aunt, so he was afraid when she grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the hotel. Something was going to happen and he was in trouble. It didn't matter that Uncle Vernon wasn't there. While the big man could hit hard, Aunt Petunia could do worse when she wanted. Harry's heart thumped rapidly as he was drug along the road.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Petunia," he whispered, just like he had a thousand times. It was a prayer to a cruel god.

"Shut up, Freak," she hissed, and he knew he was in for it now.

It was a nice day of course, and Harry's eyes, while downcast submissively, were still keeping an eye on everything around them. He didn't get many chances to be away from home and school, and even if he was going to be beaten bloody, he wanted to see things. They walked down a long roadway. He could see the sun starting to set and something sparkling in the distance. He watched it greedily.

Then Aunt Petunia said, "Come along, you should see the ocean at least once in your life".

Harry gazed in wonder. Then, Aunt Petunia said in that hard voice that meant he was still in trouble, "Come HARRY. Come and see the ocean."

She lifted Harry up onto a railing alongside the road and there was the glittering ocean. It was glorious. He drank in the sight with wonder.

The hands holding him in place suddenly pushed him, very, very hard.

Then he was flying, flying down to the water and he knew that he was going to die. Aunt Petunia had killed him.

The force of striking the water hurt like hitting the wall when Uncle Vernon smacked him around. Then he was gasping for breath and drinking freezing salty water.

He fought. He was used to pain and he had spent many a bitter winter night in the backyard as a punishment. The waves lifted him up and then smacked him down again, but were kinder than Aunt Petunia. They didn't care and that was better than her hatred. He kicked off his trainers, because he remembered that from books. He tried to dog paddle, but the waves were high. It was getting darker but he was used to the dark. It was hard, and getting harder, but Harry still tried. He knew he was alone. Harry was always alone and couldn't depend on grown-ups. So he tried, until he couldn't feel his hands or feet, and still he tried.

He went under too far, and tried to hold his breath. His lungs burned and then salty burning water was all there was to breathe.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 _He fought._ _He was used to pain and he had spent many a bitter winter night in the backyard as a punishment._ _The waves lifted him up and then smacked him down again, but were kinder than Aunt Petunia._ _They didn't care and that was better than her hatred._ _He kicked off his trainers, because he remembered that from books._ _He tried to dog paddle, but the waves were high._ _It was getting darker but he was used to the dark._ _It was hard, and getting harder, but Harry still tried. He knew he was alone._ _Harry was always alone and couldn't depend on grown-ups._ _So he tried, until he couldn't feel his hands or feet, and still he tried._

 _He went under too far, and tried to hold his breath._ _His lungs burned and then salty burning water was all there was to breathe._

Something very large came up under him and raised him to the surface. He coughed and threw up water and lay gasping. His frozen hand felt something and he realized it was a fin.

"Child no drown" said a high pitched voice.

He coughed more and then gasped out, "thank you".

"Child talk!" exclaimed the voice and Harry understood that a dolphin had rescued him like they do sailors. He held on for dear life. It was still cold but he was alive. The fact that the creature was impossibly talking didn't even matter.

"Can you take me somewhere safe?" he asked. He wasn't amazed at the dolphin speaking, he was amazed he was still alive.

"Land here no safe?" asked the dolphin, surprised.

"No safe for child," said Harry firmly. "Bad things hurt child."

"Long Swim," said the dolphin, and it indeed turned out to be the longest night of Harry's life. He eventually fell asleep on the dolphin's back. After slipping off a few times, he learned to hang on in his sleep.

Later in the dark he woke and spoke some to the dolphin. "Do you have a name?" the Dolphin laughed and said, "Have new name, Child Saver. Names change when life changes."

The thought the dolphin had named himself a child rescuer was really nice. "You are very nice, and I like your name. I am your friend," he whispered.

Child Saver liked that. "Dolphin Friend – that is your name", it said and the long night went on. Soon a pod of dolphins came to help. They took turns carrying him and letting him rest. One mother with a little baby dolphin came and Harry watched the mother and child swimming in perfect precision with awe.

It seemed that he slept on dolphin back forever. He noticed at one point that the water seemed a bit warmer and once he heard birds calling, but most of the trip was dolphins, sleep, cold, and a few tumbles into the water. He worried about the dolphins helping out, and then fell asleep again.

HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER

After sleeping again, he woke in water, sputtering, and surprised to be alive. The dolphin (it wasn't a dream) chirruped at him in the deeper water, it sounded like a fishy laugh. Harry struggled and finally felt the miracle of something solid beneath him: land. He stood on trembling legs. "Thank you," he said, and realized his voice was a mere whisper. He coughed and cleared his throat and tried again, "thank you for saving me, Child Saver." There, that was louder. The dolphin danced in delight and Harry found himself, cold, wet and shivering still able to grin.

"Live!" said the Dolphin. "I will, my friend." said Harry. Now he extracted himself from the water and finally stood straight. He was on land of course, and the most beautiful trees were right there next to the water, with white bark and silvery green leaves. One branch was very close to Harry and had some kind of fruit on it. Harry walked stiffly over to it, sand clinging to him inside his clothing and plucked the fruit. There were birds in the trees eating the fruit. That might mean it wasn't bad for humans. Shivering, and hungry, he took a bite, and it was the most glorious thing he had ever eaten. The juice ran down his throat and he felt warmth spread through his body, warmth and strength. He looked up at the tree, and said, just to make sure, "Thank you very much," and then he turned, the remains of the fruit still clutched in his hands, sand still chaffing him in really unfortunate places and walked quietly and carefully along the tiny beach. The water sparkled, and the sun shone, and eventually he realized that the trees seemed to go on forever. He saw no boats, no signs of human life with machines and humming electrical lines. For all he knew, he was alone on a desert island. Of course, his glasses were gone, but for some reason, Harry could see very clearly off into the distance over the water.

Harry still felt strengthened by the fruit, which was the first food he had for days, and strangely uplifted. The horror of knowing Aunt Petunia wanted to kill him seemed blank, a memory he could look at and know but not feel. He decided he was never letting them have him again. He took his shirt off and then his poor oversized jeans and spent a great deal of time first soaking out the sand from his clothing, and then wringing it and then putting it on a branch that had a good bit of sunlight sparkling on it. Then he rinsed out his underwear, such as it was, ripped it into one long strip of cloth and looped the Dudley sized thing like a loin cloth and kept it in place with his belt rope around his waist. It was much more comfortable this way then it had been as underwear and Harry felt better and glad to get rid of all the chafing.

He took down his other clothing and used his oversized shirt as a bag to carefully gather more of the fruit. He kept walking along the trees, hoping now for a stream of clear water. He was still a bit thirsty, although the strange wonderful fruit even slaked his thirst. He hoped this place didn't have wild dogs or things that might eat or bite little boys. So far, it was dreamlike, like coming alive in the spring after a bad winter. Finally he came to a real stream that burbled cheerfully, bouncing over the rocks as it emptied into the ocean. Harry carefully tasted it, and it had nothing nasty; it was clear and cold enough to make his teeth hurt. He drank and drank until he was full. With the fruit and this water his first need was taken care of, sustenance.

He rinsed his clothing again, while they didn't have sand in them, they did have salt, so cleaning them in fresh water was good.

He looked at his makeshift loincloth and smiled. It would get cold tonight, but he was used to being cold. Maybe he could bury himself in leaves or sand to stay warm. Or maybe he could hide inside a tree trunk to get out of the wind. He still found nothing of mankind, not a bottle in the surf, no plastic or waste anywhere. This land or island was pristine.

The sun was still high in the sky, maybe he should look for shelter now. He looked at the trees that had fed him so wonderfully, "you don't have a place I could sleep in, do you?" he asked politely.

The wind came up and the tree branches all seemed to be beckoning him. So he walked into the trees and found a small path where there had been none before. It seemed to follow alongside the stream. It wasn't an easily followed path, it wasn't man made, but it was the right size for Harry and the grass under his naked feet was kind. Finally he came to a place with large rocks and he looked around to see if there was a cave he could hide in, when there was a sound of silver bells.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry Potter and Avalon Chapter 7

Sometimes I am lonely in the crowd, so alone, my heart breaking with a sense of being nothing

Sometimes when I am alone in the hills, I am no longer alone. I am alive and part of everything!

 _The wind came up and the tree branches all seemed to be beckoning him. So he walked into the trees and found a small path where there had been none before._ _It seemed to follow alongside the stream._ _It wasn't an easily followed path, it wasn't man made, but it was the right size for Harry and the grass under his naked feet was kind._ _Finally he came to a place with large rocks and he looked around to see if there was a cave he could hide in, when there was a sound of silver bells._

He looked up. A unicorn was standing on the rocks, looking at him. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and Harry wondered if this was heaven. "Hello," he said very gently, like he would to a frightened or hurt animal, "You're beautiful!"

The unicorn was white with a curling mane like the foam on the sea waves. Its eyes were golden, peaceful and wise. Its hooves were silvery. It tapped one on the ground, and again Harry heard silver bells. The Unicorn glowed with everything pure and good in the universe.

"You are alone, human child," said the unicorn, and it was a voice that sounded a lot like a silver bell, "Are you lost?"

This reminded him of Aunt Petunia and he felt a little of the wild grief he'd known in the ocean before the dolphin saved him.

"My Aunt threw me in the ocean and a dolphin saved me and brought me here. Is it all right for me to be here?" he asked, trembling a bit, and waited for the unicorn to say that boys tossed in the ocean by the Aunt for being a freak shouldn't be here in this beautiful and peaceful place.

Instead the unicorn shook its head and made a negative noise, like he wasn't happy at all.

"Come with me, human child," said the unicorn gently and Harry followed it in the woods with sunshine gleaming through each leaf to a hidden cave surrounded with flowers. Inside the ground was thick with fragrant blooms. The unicorn sat and nodded its great head, "Come and sleep by me boy, you are tired. I will keep you safe." And filled with strange joy, Harry obeyed. The unicorn was warm and he fell sound asleep curled up listening to its heart beating a lullaby.

He slept the rest of the day and all of the night. He woke to touches from the unicorn's muzzle.

"Wake up child, the sun is up,"

Harry rubbed his eyes and automatically reached for his glasses which were not there. He had lost them in the ocean. For the first time he realized he was seeing everything perfectly. "I can see without my glasses," he mumbled happily and then got up.

He turned to the unicorn and said, "Thank you for taking care of me,"

The unicorn stood and touched his hair gently with its muzzle.

"It would not do to leave you alone in the night. There are many creatures here who hate mankind."

Harry nodded wisely. "Thank you for protecting me," he said earnestly. "You are so beautiful, I feel happy just to see you."

The unicorn snorted. "You need food now, you must be hungry,"

"Not much," said Harry, "The fruit from the trees helped so much yesterday,"

The unicorn brayed in surprise, and shook its white mane, "You see the fruit?" it asked.

Harry nodded. "I thanked the trees for it. It's like nothing I have eaten before."

The unicorn shook its head like a horse with a fly bothering it. "This is highly strange. Come with me."

Puzzled, Harry followed the unicorn to one of the trees. "Can you see fruit on this tree?" asked the unicorn.

Harry smiled, and said, "Yes, one of the branches with two fruits on it is lowering it to me."

He held out his arms and gently touched the branch and removed the two fruits. "Thank you so much, beautiful tree. You're the best." The tree appeared to dance happily in response. Since there was no wind, Harry smiled and bowed to the tree.

The unicorn stamped its feet as though highly disturbed.

"Human child, are you more than human?" it asked.

Harry winced, "My Aunt and Uncle say I am a freak," he admitted and wondered whether the tree and the unicorn would get mad at him.

Again the unicorn musically stamped its feet, "no freak would be able to see the fruit. But humans are often cruel to those who are different, so perhaps there is something different about you that makes them say that."

"Freaky things happen around me," the boy confessed, drooping.

"What kind of things?" asked the unicorn, and even the tree appeared to be interested.

"Well a teacher's hair turned blue once, when she was mean. And when Aunt Petunia cut all my hair off, it grew back overnight."

The unicorn stamped a foot in frustration and accidently ran against a branch, slicing its pure white hide. Blood began to drip. It snorted in surprise.

Harry felt like the world had come to an end. He was destroying this beautiful creature with his presence. He ran to the unicorn, and laid a tiny hand on the creature's side very gently, and began to wish with all his heart that the beautiful unicorn be better.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, thinking of how kind the creature was and how it had protected him last night. No one had ever protected him before. His hands turned to fists and he wished fiercely with all the loneliness and hope in him.

He opened his eyes, and the blood was gone.

"You are a magical human," said the unicorn, and pranced. "You can heal, that is very special!" The magic trees again appeared to dance, even though there was still no wind. Harry felt very tired but happy.

Then the unicorn knelt on the ground and said, "I have a friend you might be able to help. Hop on and I'll give you a ride."

Riding a unicorn! What a wonder. Harry carefully got on the back of the kneeling unicorn and it stood up and then said, "Hold on to my mane." He leaned forward and grabbed the flowing mane and then it was like flying. The unicorn raced through the woods, its silvery hooves making a joyful noise until it finally came to a large clearing in front of a mountain. Harry looked up and up and the mountain seemed to go on forever. It disappeared into the clouds. There was a huge opening at the foot of the mountain. The unicorn stopped and Harry fell off.

"Are you hurt, human child?" asked the unicorn in a concerned voice.

"I'm all right," said Harry

Then a dragon walked out of the cave. Harry gazed, astounded.

"Friend," called the unicorn, "I may have help for you."

"I smell a human with you," said the dragon in a voice that sounded like the dragon was made of fire.

"A magical human with healing," said the unicorn.

The dragon laughed, but it sounded like fire crackling in the wind to Harry, and bitter, like thinking of Aunt Petunia.

He looked at the dragon and could see that his one of his wings was torn and red and seeping green and yellow stuff. It looked horrible and painful. Without really thinking about it, Harry walked slowly to the dragon and put his hand as far up as he could go on the wing and felt it. The wing was hot, but hot in a sick way, and he could feel that the dragon was in pain. He thought of this beautiful strong creature being in pain and he didn't like it at all, and something in his chest squeezed and somewhere inside he began to push. He pushed the bad hot, and the green and yellow and the pain, pushing it out and away. Then he thought of how beautiful the dragon was and pushed the thought of the ocean waves dancing, and the trees dancing and the sunlight shimmering in the leaves of the trees. He thought of how wonderful the fruit had been and how it filled his empty belly. He pushed that into the wing and all the hurting places in the dragon. Then he began to feel dizzy, but he still pushed.

He woke laying the grass and the unicorn was licking his face. He felt tired like he did the time he hadn't eaten for a week and had to mow the lawn several times to get it right.

The dragon poked at him with his gigantic snout and said, "Boy, are you all right?"

Harry blinked. "Did something happen?" he asked, "I was touching you, Mr. Dragon and then I fell asleep…"

"You fainted, child. You poured magic into me and cleaned my ancient wound and then healed me," the dragon announced. It shot fire out of its mouth up into the air in delight and seemed really happy.

"That's good then," said Harry softly, glad to be helpful. "I'm awful hungry, can I go gather some fruit?" he asked.

"Of course, little human," said the unicorn.

No one didn't want him eating. They encouraged him to eat! Harry wanted to stay here forever.

Both the dragon and the unicorn watched the boy go to a tree that could not be seen by human-kind, and ask it if it had some fruit, and saw the tree hand fruit to the boy by lowering one specific laden branch to the boy's level.

"Why is this child here instead of with its parents?" said the dragon in its softest and most silky voice.

"I'm not sure but he told me his mother/sister cast him in the ocean to die and a dolphin brought him here."

The dragon growled and everything, even the wind went still. Harry walked back and looked up at the dragon. "Do you still hurt?" he asked.

"No, little one, I am angry that someone cast you into the ocean. You are a good and magical child, why would they do something so foul?"

Harry felt tears start to leak out, "I'm a freak, sir. That's why. Auntie says I am useless and don't deserve to eat. I'm only good to do chores and I don't do them well. I'm bad and ungrateful."

The dragon roared and flame shot out towards the sky. "I would like to speak to this horrible Auntie creature. She deserves to learn to dance in dragon fire."

Harry giggled, "She wouldn't like that," he whispered, imaging Auntie Petunia with her bum on fire, running down the street.

The dragon smiled a toothy smile and the unicorn laughed.

"What is your name, oh magical child?" asked the dragon.

"My name is Harry Potter," said Harry. "What's yours?"

The unicorn tossed it head, "I forgot to tell you my name too. Forgive me for being rude. I am called Dances with Wind."

The dragon snorted in lizardly amusement, "And I am called Scar. And this is the land of Avalon."

"I'm very pleased to meet both of you," said Harry and then bit into the fruit.

"He sees the fruit of the island," said Scar in a conversational voice for a dragon.

"Yes," said Dances, "and he is a very powerful mage or wizard."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Harry felt even stronger with more of the fruit. Harry ate any food with gratitude (indeed garbage often was all he had when the Dursley's were particularly put out with him) but this fruit was like nothing he'd ever tasted before. Again, the fruit seemed to heal him and strengthen him immediately. He looked up at the dragon once he was refreshed.

"Mr. Scar, do you feel all better or do you need more help?" he asked politely. He was ready to work on healing the dragon once again if he needed it.

The dragon smiled at him. Those teeth looked large and fierce but Harry could sense that Mr. Scar liked him.

"I am free of all pain," Said the dragon, "Let me see if my wings are strong enough to fly."

And just like that, the dragon flew up into the air. It was magnificent. Scar breathed fire and laughed and did twists and turns in the air, his scales glittering. Harry was delighted with the sight.

Scar came back and landed carefully.

"Harry Potter, you have freed me from centuries of pain and given me back the skies. Ask whatever you desire of me, my whole treasure, and you shall have it."

Harry didn't want treasure. If he had it, the grownups would steal it from him. He looked up at the beautiful dragon and smiled.

"Could we be friends?" he asked shyly, "that would be better than treasure."

Mr. Scar looked really surprised. "Have you seen my treasure, child?" he asked.

"Friendship is a better treasure," said the boy. "I was never allowed to have friends, and I like you very much."

The dragon shook himself and then looked at the child. "I am already your friend, little one. You have been very kind to me. I think, since treasure means little to you, that I shall take you in. You can live with me in my cavern and stay here on the island. I will teach you and protect you. I would like that very much."

Harry threw himself upon the Dragon's great nose and kissed him. "I love you!" he cried and didn't realize that dragon's are rarely loved and that he had conquered the dragon with his sweetness.

So Scar took him to his vast cavern which led to more caverns of differing sizes. He showed him a place close enough to the dragon to shelter him but far enough away that his fire (if he sneezed) or movement wouldn't harm him.

And Harry felt safe and slept dreamlessly.

HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER

Pier's mother didn't want him talking to the newspapers or reporters. She was afraid that he would get a horrible reputation. So Piers called Officer Pendleton, who came over, and met his Mum.

For the first time, Piers looked at his home and how tired Mum was all the time, while he ran wild with Dudley. He saw Officer Pendleton, who had been really kind to him, look at their home and Mom's face and was ashamed.

So while the officer talked to his Mum about getting a lawyer and maybe moving away, Piers for the first time in his life did the dishes and mopped the kitchen and straightened the cabinets and kitchen table. He thought of Harry working without complaints. Then he ran downstairs sorted out the wash until Mum called.

He ran up the stairs, and nodded pleasantly to the Officer, and shyly put an arm around Mum's shoulder.

"You have a good mother, Piers," said Officer Pendleton. Piers grinned suddenly, for the first time in days and said, "Don't I know it, Sir. She's the best."

Mum looked surprised but very pleased.

"I have a cousin who is a lawyer who deals with child abuse and he will work with you pro bono – that's for free," said Officer Pendleton.

Piers hugged Mum and shook the hand of the officer. Then he realized he had something to say. "Officer Pendleton, what happened was really bad. I think I was becoming a bad person too, because I hung around with Dudley and copied what he and his parents did. We were nothing but bullies. I don't want to be like that anymore." Piers suddenly found himself feeling shy and he looked at the floor. "I've decided I'm going to help Mum and be a better person and care about people," he said all in a rush. "So I am going to buckle down in school and try to be more like Mum and you, Officer Pendleton."

He felt Officer Pendleton's hand on his shoulder and looked up. Mum had tears in her eyes and was smiling at him. Officer Pendleton nodded at him like he was an adult. Piers felt funny inside like something was changing and he hoped it was him.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The next day Harry Potter woke up on the Isle of Avalon besides the ancient dragon named Scar. Scar was snoring, smoke and a tiny flame coming out of his nostrils with each breathe and Harry watched this with interest. Scar's voice sounded mean, but he was quite nice and warm. Harry had healed the dragon and asked him to be his friend, and the delighted Scar had insisted that the boy mage stay with him. While his clothing was in rags, Scar's cave was warm and cozy and Harry enjoyed the feeling of having friends for the first time in his life (Dances the unicorn was, of course, a friend too, but used to sleeping with unicorns, who were happier standing up to sleep). Harry felt better than he ever remembered and he was magic. Scar and Dances had said so. He hoped he could use magic to heal often. It made him glad.

Scar's huge eyes opened and Harry ran to him and kissed the great snout of the dragon, "Good Morning, my friend!" said the boy happily.

"Good morning, Harry," said the dragon in that deep rumbling voice and Harry could tell Scar was happy with him.

He explored further into Scar's cave and came to a vast cavern filled with gold, jewels, and all sorts of useless but pretty stuff. "Scar" he yelled, "is is alright if I look at this stuff? It's really pretty."

Scar laughed and followed him, "You have my permission to explore. I like treasures of the earth. Perhaps you need to see them to appreciate them."

Harry wandered about and found books in other languages bound in gold with jewels. Some of the books made him tingle. "I feel funny around these," he said pointing. "You feel their magic, Harry," said Scar, "Later I will teach you to read them."

Harry smiled, "Really, I can learn from magic books?"

"I suppose it will be a good start, although I am not familiar with all types of human magic."

There were piles of pretty jewels and bigger piles of coins that Harry amused himself with by rolling down. "Whee!" he cried. Then he rolled up to a small jewel-encrusted box.

"That might serve a purpose, my friend," said the dragon, nudging the box with one single claw, so Harry opened the box and found sewing materials and some cloth.

"You can make clothing for yourself with this. I give it to you," said the Dragon.

That night, before a small fire from dry wood he had gathered (started by dragon snort, of course) Harry made himself a simple poncho as well as leg wrappings. He made a better loin cloth, some carry bags for gathering food, and made simple foot wraps for when it got cold. One big piece of thick wool became a nice blanket after he sewed up the end where it could unravel.

He looked up at Scar who was watching all of this quietly. "Can I make you something, Scar?"

"I don't wear clothing, Harry, I have lovely scales," said Scar.

"You have gorgeous scales, Scar, but I should make you something." He thought awhile, and then used thread to start to cross stitch one nice piece of cloth. The nice cat lady, Mrs. Figg, had done cross stitch and it was the only stitch he knew. It would take time to finish, but he would make something nice for his new friend.

Then he wrapped himself in his blanket next to Scar and slept, tired, well-fed and feeling independent and happy for the first time in his life.

As the days went on, he turned brown as a berry in the sun. Some days were cold and some were hot. He ran and gathered food. Everything he gathered was turned over to Scar at the end of the day for identification and lessons on wild foods and medical herbs. Some turned out to be spices. Dances helped too, but ate a wider variety of things, like grass.

As the days grew colder, Harry dreamed of the Dursleys. He had trained himself not to scream or cry in his sleep lest Uncle Vernon give him a real reason to cry as the man would say before getting out his belt. Regardless, one night he dreamed of Aunt Petunia's hatred and his fall into the ocean, and he wept in his sleep quietly. He woke, to find Scar next to him, nosing him gently. "You had a nightmare."

"I'm sorry I disturbed you," said Harry, "I can sleep outside if you like."

"No, Harry, I would rather have you near me," said the dragon softly, "did you dream of your relatives?"

Harry nodded. "You know they can never come to Avalon", said Scar gently, "Avalon only accepts the pure hearted these days, and those who have suffered. They can never find you and Avalon has welcomed you."

The dragon had a long life full of many experiences, but he had never had a small human child cry, while holding his neck and touching him as though he were very loved. The dragon cried for Harry and scalding hot tears dripped all over the cave floor. Harry snuggled Scar until he fell asleep, his arms still holding onto Scar's neck with a fierce kind of tenderness that a dragon could understand. He watched over his human child that night and wished he had 5 seconds with the humans who had tormented this sweet nestling. Dragons cherished their young. After that Scar would sometimes call Harry, Nestling, and noted with pride that the boy would smile at him each time he said it.

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter

Piers woke up from a nightmare about Dudley tossing him from a bridge, while yelling that he was a freak. His old alarm clock said it was 5:00 a.m., so Piers got up and made breakfast for Mum with bacon, eggs and potatoes. The coffee was done and ready when she walked in and saw that he had food sat out for her. "Piers, Darling, what a nice surprise." She sat and picked up the coffee first and breathed in the smell.

She took a careful sip and then gave him a beautiful smile. "Darling, you made it just like I like it. Did you plan to surprise me like this?" she asked.

Piers found himself grinning. "No, I woke up early and decided to be useful, Mum. You work hard for me and you deserve nice things."

They smiled at each other and Piers felt like, no matter what happened with other people, that Mum would be there for him. She was the best Mum in the world.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Harry first noticed that the Island had moods. Sometimes trails would lead to different places. Once, he ended up at the edge of a huge desert. Another time he ended up in a rain forest. He always turned around and went back to the cave when this happened. He politely told the Island that he wasn't big or smart enough yet to explore without his friends. The Island didn't seem upset about it so Harry didn't worry.

Scar called him to the treasure horde when the weather began to get colder. "Humans need foot protection," the great dragon explained and picked out some long silver pieces from his hoard. He carried them to the front of the cave with a puzzled Harry following. He selected a large boulder scratched out long thin lines with a single claw. "I'm going to breathe fire now, nestling," he said and Harry moved out of the way and watched with interest as Scar melted the silver into the thin lines of the boulder. Harry stared at the glittering molten silver and said, "You made a mold!"

Scar looked very pleased. "You are a smart nestling. Can you guess what they will be?"

Harry frowned, "I'm sorry, my Sire, but all I can think of is knitting needles."

Scar laughed, "That is exactly right. You are going to learn to knit."

The next day, Scar popped two silver knitting needles out of the rock and went with Harry to find the Unicorn herd. Dances was the first to see them, and Scar bowed to the herd, "I need someone to help me teach my nestling how to knit." Dances laughed, and came forward.

Harry already had a supply of knitting material in a bright blue that Scar had popped out of an old box made with jewels. It had no knitting needles, but the yarn was thick enough for a first lesson.

"The first thing you must do nestling, is set up the yarn on a knitting needle," said Scar. Then Harry realized why he needed Dances, because his claws were too large to deal with the needles he had made for Harry, so he was going to use Dances' horn to show him how to set up.

"Hey be careful," said Dances, "I need that horn."

"Sorry," muttered the dragon, while using his claws gently to set up yarn on the beautiful horn. Harry couldn't help it, he giggled. "I bet this has never happened before in all of history," he said.

"And it never will again," said Dances with a snort. "Keep still," said Scar. Harry watched carefully (between giggles) and was able to duplicate the action with his smaller dragon-made needles, and was soon figuring it out.

He quickly duplicated what Scar had done. "Whheeeee", said Dances, and quickly divested himself of Scar's knitting, and raced out of the cave, rejoicing in his freedom from crafting. Scar snorted.

Scar didn't know how to make socks, but they were able to measure Harry's feet and make tubes and finally sew them together with yarn. Harry was pleased

Next Scar gave him some kind of a hair brush which he was instructed to use to prepare wool and fur Harry gathered from thorn bushes and trails. Then he was given a golden spindle and figured out how to turn this into yarn. He would walk alone searching for food and spin as he walked. Harry liked the feeling that he was taking care of himself like a grownup. He never wanted to leave here, never.

Next came leather from animals that Scar had eaten. Since he usually ate things whole, providing uncooked and unchewed skins was a challenge. After that, prepping the leather took a lot of messy work, but Harry learned to tan the leather and made himself his own shoes, and finally, after trial and error, boots for winter.

Because winter was coming, Harry wouldn't have access to the magic fruit of the Isle as food, so he had gathered fish in a roughly made net and learned to gut and prep the fish and then to smoke it in the cavity of a dead tree. The fish was delicious. He also gathered fruit and dried it, after explaining the situation to the trees. Dances with Wind showed him roots that Dances felt were delicious. Harry wasn't sure they were that delicious but figured it was like eating vegetables and stored them carefully. He gathered grasses and nuts meticulously and ground them on a mortar and pestle made of stone that Scar made him, after several experiments where he destroyed the stones completely. He made nutty pancakes and stored roots with the dried fish for winter. He asked bees if they could share some of their honey and never got stung.

And he finished making his embroidered sign that said "Scar's Lair" with a laboriously done picture of Scar on it. Shyly he gave it to Scar on the first day of snow. "What is this?" asked Scar, tilting his great head to the side.

"It's a sign showing this is your lair, Scar." Said Harry, hoping Scar would like it. He put it up near the front of the cave so Scar could see it. "I know it is not a treasure, but I made it for you."

Scar was terribly pleased. "My definition of treasure just changed," he said.

Piers went to school that day dreading see Dudley and the gang, and thinking how Harry must have dreaded to see his face when he helped with all the Harry Hunts. God, he despised himself. But he was going to do better; for himself and Mum. And Piers realized when he sat down in homeroom that besides Dudley's gang, no one was a friend. He'd beaten up everyone or terrorized them.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

But Scar's definitions of treasure were not all Harry learned. Harry learned to talk to all the trees, not just the special ones with the wonderful fruit. He learned that regular trees had their own voices and beings. Since he knew how to read, he was given books encrusted with jewels from Scar's horde (except one that Scar snatched back while muttering, "Not till he's of mating age").

He was taught about battles and weapons and geography from Scar, he learned specifically about healing herbs from both Dances and Scar and began rough potion making. He made friends with snakes, a wyvern, some mermaids (and blimey were the mermaid ladies and men fat!), smaller dragons, a centaur prophet, various nifflers (who apparently annoyed Scar to no end with their desire for shiny materials), and he explored what he thought was the entire island, always asking the Island first and always with a friend.

He found places with heavy magic, some of it dark, some of it light, much having to do with fertility and many wards that kept people away from the island. He found light altars surrounded by flowering trees and fragrant herbs. He found hidden dark altars that seemed to draw on the power of death and violence. Every inch of the island was saturated with magic and Harry could feel every bit of it.

And eventually the magic that was Avalon seemed to feel that he was ready to explore on his own. He had discovered a place where rocks had blocked one of the many springs and cleaned it up laboriously so the music of the spring resumed. He watered the plants that had gone without and cleaned up the brush of the dead plants. Then he patted the earth happily, glad to be helping this island that had fed him and saved his life.

A golden breeze suddenly sprang up and swirled around him. Recognizing magic instantly, Harry stood still, patiently and waited to see what the magic wanted. Finally, laboriously, he realized the magic was thinking at him but not like humans do. It was a little like the trees, but even more different. He listened carefully and realized the magic was asking him to take care of the island. His eyes filled with proud tears, "I would love to," he sent back with all his small being. The thought that magic thought him worthy to take care of the island meant he really wasn't a freak. "Please, if it's possible, show me where things need to be done, and I'll do my very best to help,"

Harry didn't expect magic to download complete knowledge of the whole island, but nothing about magic was boring, so when a huge map with multi-layers appeared before his eyes, he mentally accepted the new knowledge. He realized that Avalon was much bigger than he thought and had all kinds of climates and environments and times. He saw a portal location that had dinosaurs in it. "Yipes," he thought, "don't go there". Then he realized that the sickly green blobs represented areas where the island needed help.

He already went without glasses, but now Harry could see things that he'd never seen before like magical birds and tiny dragons that flitted among the flowers. There were glowing fairies zipping about and animals that he had never seen before. There were ominous clouds hanging over some trees. And he knew some animals and trees were sick or wounded and was given knowledge on how to help.

He sat up abruptly and realized he'd been laying outside in the tall grass for hours. Worried about Scar he raced back to a very upset dragon.

"Nestling!" Scar was roaring and flying back and forth anxiously.

"My Sire. I'm all right." He yelled and waved frantically.

"My dear nestling, I am too old for this!" said Scar, "My scales are all going to fall out!"

Harry threw his arms around Scar as he landed and was fussed over. "Avalon was teaching me," he explained, "Otherwise I wouldn't have stayed so late."

Scar calmed down, and snorfled and snorted in surprise. "Avalon taught you things?" he asked, "what kind of things?"

"About places that need cleansing from evil, and how to heal animals and trees. And portals to other times. Avalon is a lot bigger than I thought." Said Harry, frantically petting the great nose of his dear Scar.

Scar nosed at him gently, "I am very proud of you, little nestling. Avalon blesses all but speaks to few. May you always be worthy of Avalon's trust in you."

Harry grinned and hugged his mentor. "I will work hard to make you and Avalon happy," he said. He had a purpose now, to care for Avalon and all that dwelt there.

XXXX

Piers' next week at school was hard. He refused to speak to Dudley, who was now in Children's services, or any of their other friends. Instead he stood near the monitor in the playground and stared at Dudley's gang. When they started in on anyone, he ran over and got involved. It was awful. His old friends punched him and sneered at him with contempt but he would yell at them and get the monitor involved and then a teacher. The little kids who had been afraid of him watched him in amazement. He looked at their little faces and thought of Potter and his silent falling into the water and it strengthened him. He was never going to bully anyone again.

Then, making noises like a junior walrus, Dudley threatened him. "You destroyed my family," he accused at the top of his lungs. Piers, who had never been quick to talk before, found words, "You treated Harry like a slave and starved him! You all destroyed YOURSELVES!" He screamed this so loud his throat was sore the rest of the day but it didn't keep him from getting help when Dudley's boys went looking for trouble. When he yelled, Dudley had stopped and looked like a mad pig, ready to tear him to pieces. The monitor for once had pulled Dudley into the principal's office.

Piers couldn't eat his lunch that first day. He kept thinking of the way the little kids stared at him. Like he was a monster. Like Mrs. Dursley and Mr. Dursley. For the first time in his life, he went home and told Mum about his day at school and what Dudley had said. And the little kids' eyes.

Mum stopped cooking and sat down at the kitchen table and took his hands. "Piers, the Dursley's are scum that dressed like respectable people. They looked down on me for not having a husband. They only accepted you because you were Dudley's friend." She looked into Piers' eyes sternly and said, "You are not like them. You believed them because Dudley was your friend and because his parents are grownups. Now you know better and already you have changed yourself. Dudley is still blaming everyone but himself. You spent your lunch time watching over the younger children. Dudley kept on bullying. You are not like them."

Piers hardly slept that night and when he did, it was to dream of great waves crashing on rocks.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews! Please note that Piers is not experiencing time at the same rate Harry is because Harry has a lot to learn and experience and Piers is doing it on a more mundane level.

Chapter 12

Harry spent a lot of quiet time first thing in the morning scanning the island for places that needed help with his new abilities. He would sit at the entrance to his home cave with Scar usually still snoring behind him. The air was crisp and the smell of living things tickled his nose.

The first magical map Avalon had given him was always available at his call and even showed trails. He would scan it for places that needed his help. Some places were forbidden to him now because they were too sick or too dark. He understood he was learning from scratch. So for now sometimes help was letting plants blossom. Sometimes help was digging wells. He learned more potions and healing methods and helped everyone from trees needing better drainage or compost to squirrels with upset tummies to itchy snakes. He found that he could talk to both magical and non-magical creatures.

Sometimes he tended to ancient altars. His days were busy and full. As winter neared, he looked deep in the earth for places that were hurt and found places that needed to be cleansed by simple rituals that the Island taught him in dreams and visions. Harry believed this was the extent of his magic, healing and rituals of cleansing.

And finally the day came when rocks that blocked an important deer trail to a salt lick was beyond his strength. He struggled until his hands bled and his attempt at using a lever actually broke the stick and sent Harry flying. He got up, winded at his fall and found himself fiercely wishing the rocks to be light as air. Then, sighing, he went to the rocks and pushed once more and the rock moved easily, now apparently weightless as he wished. Astonished, he relocated the rocks carefully and then willed that they go back to being heavy. It was done. Harry sat down and thought about what he knew of magic and decided that magic was for when brute force didn't work. This would be useful and it was just brilliant!

Harry learned more and more each day. He learned to make paper and to mold clay and fire it. He could now cook and store potions and write up his new potions! He learned to make blades of flint, so he could harvest plants and cut up fish. He learned to talk to birds and creatures that the magic creatures didn't see. He learned French, Russian and German from Scar, who took him flying on his great back to teach him map making. Harry never asked to fly for fun but he really had a lot of map making questions.

Harry was careful of the old Centaur prophet Scar told him about because he seemed sad and perhaps a little angry. However, one day the Centaur caught Harry doing a cleansing ritual on a place that was filled bitter rage and betrayal and the old Centaur watched in astonishment as Harry strewed the entire area with blossoms that cannot be seen by regular men and then did a dance only known to Centaurs, a solemn dance of mourning and sorrow for those lost.

"Human child," said Archimedes, in a choking, sorrowful voice, "How do you know this dance?"

Harry carefully finished the ritual, bowing to the spirits of the departed, and said, "The Island taught me how to do it for those who were brought here and betrayed. It is the darkest blot Avalon has, where one who sought to do evil betrayed good people and sacrificed them to make bad magic."

"What you have done is a very good thing," said Archimedes, "I should have helped you; they were my people."

"Everyone is my people," said Harry, "except bullies. I will be fair with them, but I don't like bullies."

"Child, I have been in a morass of sorrow too long," said the Centaur, "Forgive me for not paying enough attention to you. I shall teach you and help you to serve this blessed land, and to protect it from evil."

Archimedes was good as his word. First he taught him to make honey mead and wine. Then they started on Latin, Greek and Aramaic. Harry began to read some of the books of magic although both Scar and Dances didn't seem impressed with the magic.

Archimedes was truly pleased with Harry's healing powers and showed him how to use mead and wine to make tinctures from the herbal plants on the island. He learned happily about tinctures as medicine for various creatures and as alcohol rubs for bruises. He could even pack broken limbs with comfrey root to make a healing cast. The wine was good in cooking too.

Before fall came to an end, Harry found a grouping of goats and made a deal with them to milk them after their babies were fed in exchange for providing them with additional fodder. Also, Scar solemnly promised not to eat any of them (this was a sacrifice on Scar's part – he really liked goat). It took a while for the goats to get used to Scar, but Harry soon learned to make cheeses and it added to his diet.

XXX

One night after the first snow Avalon woke him up and told him a wolf cub was in danger. Harry always stayed inside during the night unless he had a ritual. He had paid heed to Dances' warnings about creatures at night hating humans. But every creature on the island was his responsibility and he followed the cry of the pup through the woods for miles. There in a cave the pup had fallen in a large hole and was frightened. It could not climb out. Harry calmly took a rope he had made just last week and secured it so he could climb down and rescue the pup. He sat with the frightened pup awhile and when it realized he was not going to harm it, gave it some of the dark bread he made for himself. The pup finally felt at ease and he put it on his shoulder and climbed up. When he reached the top of the rope, the pack the pup belonged to was all there in a semi-circle waiting for him. They growled threateningly. They were as big as Harry was. Harry wondered why he wasn't afraid. He was usually afraid of dogs, like Ripper who belonged to Aunt Marge. But now Harry felt calm faced with being eaten alive. He felt magic inside him strengthening him and Avalon calling to him gently. With magic he was never alone.

Harry looked the pack over and said, "Do not attack me, the pup will fall again."

The wolves stared at him and stopped growling. He got all the way up. He put the pup down gently and it licked at his hands affectionately and whined. Harry touched it gently.

"The pup is all right now. Have it go to his mother so she can clean him." Harry knew his scent was bothering them and having the mother clean the pup would wash away his scent and replace it with the mother's.

"You are not pack," said the leader, his hackles still raised.

Harry watched the mother anxiously licking her baby. "Then why did I rescue the cub?" he asked.

The wolves looked puzzled. "Pack cares for pups – this is truth is it not?" Harry asked.

"Yes," said the wolves.

"Pack rescues pups from danger – this is truth?" he asked

"Yes," said the wolves.

"I rescued pup from danger; I am pack too. I protect the pack."

"You do not smell like pack, but you do not smell of fear either." said the Chief wolf with puzzlement.

"Come and smell me and lick me and I will smell like pack," Harry said.

He took out some more of his hard won bread and some dried fish and the wolves slunk forward and accepted the food from his hands. The leader, not to be outdone, also went forward and licked Harry's hands and then began to lick him. "You smell more like pack," he said, "What are you? You are not like humans."

"I am of Avalon," said Harry, and felt his magic come forth, warm and welcoming to the wolves.

The wolves howled and then they all jumped on him like excited pups instead of killers, licking him and accepting him. They understood that Avalon had made him a protector of the island and its inhabitants. From then on, they were friends.

XXX

The next day at school, Piers took his place again near the monitor at recess, keeping sharp to see if anyone would hurt the littles. A tiny hand touched his arm and he looked down. A doll-like girl stared up at him, her eyes innocent and sweet. "You kept the Dudley boys from hurting my brother yesterday. Will you keep me safe too?"

Piers stared at her and then crouched down and smiled, "Dudders is a big bully. I will do my best to keep an eye out for you, I promise."

The little girl hugged him and ran to play. At lunch Piers sat with the littlest ones and tucked in. She hadn't looked at him like he was a monster. He couldn't save Harry Potter, it was impossible. But Piers realized he could be a protector and he decided that was his job now. He would help Mum, he would protect the kiddies. He would even help the teachers who thought he was stupid. Everything he had cherished before had proven him false. He would be very careful from now on who he befriended.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

While the snow now fell, Harry raced to gather the last nuts with the squirrels, grain with the birds, seeds with the ants and told the bees where the sweetest late blossoms were in return for a small portion of their honey before they went to their winter sleeping. Sometimes Dances wandered with him, sometimes Archimedes. They discussed magic, philosophy, logic and herbal medicine. Archimedes taught him to be utterly silent as he walked and even ran through the woods. The wolves frequently ran with him and were impressed with his speed for only having 2 legs.

Harry began to feel the earth beneath his feet as something alive. He took time every day learning to shield his mind, something Archimedes told him the stars demanded of him. So Harry learned to read the stars too. Then he learned to send his thoughts outward and gain deeper visions of the land and the earth besides the magical map. He learned the mental signature of gold, silver, iron and copper.

On one glorious day, he learned to pull the metals out of the earth by will alone and send liquid metal into one of his clay pots, which promptly melted. After experimentation and help from Scar in making stone molds, Archimedes taught him the noble art of making swords, and his new knives were vastly superior to his knives of flint. He also made gold and silver bars and presented them to a delighted Scar. "You shared your horde with me," he explained to the dragon, "So I must share what you like with you, my sire." Scar went outside and roared in delight that his nestling had made him treasure, causing the recovering animals in his area of the cave to huddle in shock, while Harry explained that it was not anything bad. Several chippies ran right into his shirt and huddled against his chest, chittering about "damn overbearing poop head dragons." Fortunately, Scar couldn't understand non-magical chippie language.

Then, in waking dreams, the Island taught him the art of making a Wizard's staff, with hairs from Dances and a scale from Scar and hair from Archimedes' beard as the core.

He found a fallen holy tree, the one that had fruit that not everyone could see, and took a great branch and aged it carefully, powdering it with herbs and spells that no one else knew. He sang to it each day and warded it and blessed it to only be used for good purposes and defense. Then Archimedes and Scar taught him runes and he warded the staff in 7 runes known to men; 7 runes known only to dragons, and 7 runes known only to the goblins who dwell in the deep earth. He made some runes in the sun with gold, and some in the moonlight with silver. Some were made with tiny blue gem stones in the water and some were made with mercury and his own blood with spells that froze each rune by the light of stars. He named the staff Star Fall because stars fell in a great display the night he finished inlaying the staff with all the metals and gems the Island gave him.

Harry grew stronger, his muscles wiry, his mind constantly taking in new knowledge. And always he listened to Avalon, hoping to serve and protect. His cave became an official sanctuary for wounded creatures that escaped predators. Some of them stayed because his kindness gentled them into trust. Scar put up with it, but nifflers were not allowed in the treasure room.

Harry also learned to swim in the still warm ocean with the dubious help of the dolphins and mermaids, who did keep him from drowning until he figured it out. Then it was fun to swim. He explored underwater. The way sunlight made the water golden and green was so beautiful. He swam deeper and met a sea turtle who stopped swimming and gazed at him. Harry realized that he could talk to the turtle and still hold his breath.

"Hello, my friend," he said gently, "You are very beautiful as you swim in the water. I am from the island nearby and my name is Harry."

"You are of Avalon," said the turtle, "I am called Green Nose. I wander where I will, and I come here from time to time."

"Excuse me, Green Nose, I have to breathe," said Harry and went to the surface. Green Nose followed him and told him about how the turtles migrated to different areas to feed and mate.

"You are very wise, Green Nose, to find good places for food. Tell me, have you ever had smoked fish?" he asked politely.

"No," said the Turtle. Harry ran ashore and found one of his caches in the roots of one of the holy trees and brought some for the Turtle. Green Nose could not curve his mouth in a smile, but his mind told Harry that he was pleased by the treat. "You are a good keeper of Avalon," Green Nose said, "I will be glad to meet you again."

Harry waved as the Turtle left and set out a few net traps for fish. Then he began to sing thankfulness to the magic for the beauty of his new friend in the green water, and the beauty of the sun in the sky, and the joy of the earth beneath his feet. As he did, his magic rippled across the island, creating wards of peace and health and joy, wards that humans knew not. He didn't know he had invented them, but Harry knew they pleased Avalon and was glad.

"The water is green and the light is gold, and the Turtle is wise and has a green nose.

The sky is filled with clouds that shine, and the wind cools my body and dances all the time.

The fish are tasty and my belly is filled and in Avalon I can eat and doze

In Avalon, the blessed isle, everything is fine."

XXX

Piers' Mum no longer read the papers. It seemed other events of child abuse turned up now and they kept referring to the Potter Tragedy.

They changed their telly number and the lawyer sent letters to the school asking them to protect Pier's privacy.

Piers ignored his old friends except when they were up to their usual and found himself playing with the littles every recess when his old friends were in detention.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

(Author's note – please note that the two stories are not happening all at the same time just in the same order)

On another night the wind called and Harry found himself waking up. He smelt death and pain on the wind and a call for help. He quietly left Scar sleeping peacefully and followed the magical cry. This time he had his staff with him. He walked in his new boots (the first successful ones that didn't leak and were comfortable), and made no noise as the wind seemed to push him where he was supposed to go. Finally he found a crevasse and used his rope that he now took everywhere with him and used it to lower himself until he found a cave. He wished for light, and the jewels on his staff lit. It wasn't a very bright light, but Harry had a feeling that a bright light would be frightening to that which lived here. The rock was cold.

He was able to move quickly down long tunnels and hoped Avalon would let him return, because some of the crystals embedded in the rock were beautiful and magical.

Finally, he could smell pain and fear. He came to a dead stop. A voice called to him in a language he didn't understand. This was new to him. He could talk to all the creatures and the trees. He thought about it and called out in English, "I am human and I do not understand your language. Can you understand mine?"

"Humans walk above the earth. Why are you here, human?"

Harry grasped his staff in his hands and was careful to sound respectful. "You have reached the under earth of Avalon. Avalon called to me to come and help you. I smell sickness and fear here. Can I help you?"

"We are cast out from the rest of the goblins," said a sad voice, "we have been without food for days."

Harry quickly took out a store of his food. "Can you eat bread and fish?" he asked quietly.

"We can," said the voice and finally a short creature walked from the darkness toward Harry. His teeth were pointed and he looked to be full grown for his species but Harry was a little taller than him.

Harry bowed and handed all the food to the goblin, who also shakily bowed and then called into the darkness. Two smaller goblins appeared, one an adult female and the other very small, a goblin child. The male distributed food and watched the other two eat before he took the final portion.

He turned back to Harry and the female and girl child looked at him with sad eyes. "Other goblins may refuse to deal with you if you are kind to us, human boy. We are cast out."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"A wizard tricked me into giving monies to him that he had no right to. I didn't perceive his trick and so I and my wife and child were cast out because our clan leader said the bank was shamed greatly by the Wizard's evil. We defrauded a wizarding family of good repute that had always been friends with goblins.

"Did the family agree to this?" asked Harry. He had been learning a little about magic law, which was pretty logical when it was just magic, but strange when humans administered it.

"That is part of the problem," said the goblin very sadly, "The line ended because of us. The family taking care of the child abused him and killed him. The entire line of Potter is destroyed. That is serious to goblins and humans alike, so our clan head declared we had to be punished."

"Potter?" asked Harry, "my name is Harry Potter and my aunt tried to kill me by throwing me in the oceans." He stopped for a moment, and the feeling of her hatred reminded him of why he didn't want to ever leave here.

The goblin trembled and threw himself at Harry's feet. "We thought you dead!" he cried, "Please Harry Potter take vengeance on me but spare my family."

Harry stared. Aunt Petunia would have offered him to take the vengeance and turned away without caring, glad to be rid of him. This goblin really loved his family and was brave.

"By the power of my heirship, you are all freed from punishment and taken under my protection," said Harry, remembering Scar's lessons on protocol. "Your enemies will be mine."

Harry remembered that Goblins needed to have gold and precious metals around them to be healthy. He thumped the cavern floor and it gave a great echoing boom. Soon molten tendrils appeared and then a small pool of gold, swirling, beautiful in the darkness. He made it into a shield and carefully used more magic to cool it properly without cracking. Dusting his hands, he touched his great staff to it and a new golden light shone all through the cavern. He handed it to the Father Goblin. "This is a magical shield, to protect you, my ally from evil."

Father Goblin took it in shaking hands, "It is said the Potters are terrible enemies but wonderful allies. I am deeply honored."

"I know what it is like to be tricked and shamed," said Harry. "My family treated me like a slave. Who tricked you? My aunt and uncle wouldn't have anything to do with magic. They punished me for accidental magic."

The goblin looked horrified and angry at this. "The wizard who did this was Albus Dumbledore. He has also been punished for this. All his titles and powers have been stripped from him and all the money he stole returned. He be-spelled me to foolishly trust him and I failed you, young heir Potter."

"Is this a powerful wizard?"

"He was known and honored before for defeating Grindenwald. He was considered a great leader until your death was announced. If it helps, while he did evil, he mourned you."

"It is good to see your mistakes and live up to them," said Harry softly. "Did they punish him for what he did to you?"

"No," said Father Goblin, "I was blamed. We should be wiser than Wizards, and yet he got through all my spells and devices to detect that kind of thing."

Harry said, "I am sorry for your troubles and I forgive you all wrong. Because they were cruel to me, when they cast me in the ocean, a dolphin pod brought me here. Here I am healed and serve Avalon. I know happiness and friendship for the first time. So his evil trick has been undone and did me good. Therefore I share it with you."

The Goblins covered their eyes and wept, and Harry knew it was hard for them to be seen weeping before a wizard so he turned and waited until his magic told him they felt better. He turned back and bowed. "Come with me and we shall find you a new home in Avalon."

He brought them out of the tunnel and knowing Scar would frighten them, took them to another place of caverns he knew of that was rich in jewels and metals and that had cliff caverns with mushrooms in them. He often had harvested the mushrooms himself, but there was enough to feed the entire family of goblins and to grow fungi and plants that Goblins especially liked.

He made them beds and cared for them until they became well. The girl Goblin's name was HardTusk because she had bitten someone very hard once in a fight while a baby. Mrs. Goblin's name was Snipper, but Harry called her Mother Goblin. And Mr. Goblin was Stabber, Harry called him Father Goblin.

Soon he and Father Goblin were fishing in the wide ocean from the shore with nets and smoking fish, while Harry learned their language and culture. Father Goblin taught him about profit, organization, inventory and the ancient stories of Goblin warriors.

Xxxx

Piers' next day at school was a wonder. The news about Harry had finally made it to all the children. The children he had helped yesterday, came up to him. "You protected us. You aren't a bully any more, are you?" asked one little girl with big eyes. Piers nodded solemnly, "I decided to protect people now. I want to be a police man when I grow up." He spent recess with the little ones, guiding them, protecting them from his old friends, and listening to all the little ones had to say.

The principal, a stern woman who had fallen for the Dursley's stories, came out at the end of recess and asked Piers into her office.

"Piers," she said, "Is everything in the papers about Harry Potter true?" Piers nodded.

To his intense surprise, he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "I wish I had known, but that's my problem. I understand you have been standing up for the smaller children and playing with them."

He blushed and looked at his feet. "Yes, Ma'am. I think I was going bad being friends with Dudley. I've decided I want to be someone I can be proud of." He found himself being assigned as a junior monitor.

The principal was a great help for the next month, when reporters came to ask the children questions. Piers found himself still crying at night about Harry, but doing it silently, so as not to bother Mum. She worked so hard and he hadn't realized it before. He looked at the ceiling in the darkness of his room and wondered how many children cried quietly so as not to get a beating.

The teachers surprised Piers. They stopped treating him like they did Dudley and his crew, and instead seemed supportive and interested. Piers began to ask about a future as a policeman or in law enforcement.

He learned a lot about housework and cooking and was very proud the first time he had supper ready for when Mum got home. He also got all his homework done every night. His first grades of the semester made Mum cry with happiness. She even wrote a letter to Officer Pendleton and the Officer, who Piers knew was really busy, wrote them both back to express pride and encouragement.

He asked Mum about inviting the Officer over for the holidays, for at least Christmas Dinner or Boxing Day. Strangely Mum blushed when he came up with the idea, but was quick to call their esteemed friend on the Telly and learned he had no family and dinner on Christmas would be very nice.

In preparation, Piers decided he needed pocket money for gifts and got a job, with school permission, helping out at a pet store after school. It was dirty work, cleaning out cages and sweeping. The owner seemed very gruff but Piers found he loved the animals and the people asking about pets and he loved keeping the little creatures happy.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - Encounters

Severus Snape was once known as an evil, greasy bat of the dungeons, feared by generations of students at Hogwarts and forced to show partiality to Slytherin House to keep his position as spy for Dumbledore complete. Free of those chains now, he was practicing new potions and discovering new herbs. One of his greatest joys was to spend time in the woods, gathering various ingredients, the earlier in the day the better, (although sometimes harvesting at night was important too), while the dew still glistened and birds sang their morning songs. It reminded him of days gone by when he and Lily Evans had been great friends and had plans to do wonderful things in the way of potions and herbs.

Since Lily's death, he had closed himself up in mourning, kept to himself, and tormented his students, but free from his teaching job, he was actually quite happy doing new potion research and gathering ingredients on days like this.

Especially here, on the blessed isle of Avalon. It was a constant miracle in his meager existence to know that the Isle that was the essence of all magic allowed him to visit here, with his dark mark tattooed on his arm as a symbol of shame. That he was even allowed to sight the island from his small boat gave him a sense of uplift. Even though his life was filled with failure, Magic still allowed him here on the foggy days when the wind smelled of freedom and herbs. He would take a small boat and look for an island in the deepest darkest parts of the fog. It was never in the same place, and it was never exactly the same, but it was always there.

He was on his knees examining a bounty of dittany, an expensive and wonderful healing ingredient, taking in the smells of the new day when he heard the sound of movement in the bushes.

Now since he never saw either mundane or magical animals, including birds, on the blessed Isle, this brought him to his feet, basket and herbs in hand.

There standing before him was a young boy, dressed only in a short loin cloth, brown skinned with long tangled hair and piercing green eyes.

Snape's eyes bulged. A child on the blessed Isle. Was this a manifestation of magic? An elder God? An enchantment?

The child looked at him and started to turn away to run.

And because Snape had spent the last 10 years chasing down Hogwarts children, Snape ran after him instinctively.

And instinctively came to a jarring stop when a unicorn came out of the bushes with the business end of his horn pointed at Severus' heart.

Warily, he slipped his wand into his hand, not wanting to hurt anything on the blessed isle, but not wanting to die either. The unicorn stared at him with intelligent eyes and silver hooves made a bell like noise as the creature pounded them in the ground defiantly.

Then Severus heard a noise behind him that nearly stopped his heart. A ferocious and incredibly loud growl that had him turning.

There before him was possibly the largest dragon he had ever seen, smoke snorting from its nostrils.

The potions master froze and realized that he couldn't apparate away from the isle. Perhaps he could apparate to the shore where his boat was.

Heart pounding, he began to wandlessly apparate, and found himself instead frozen in place.

Then, the child appeared out of the bushes and stood in front of him.

"Child," he whispered hoarsely, "Run away, save yourself."

The boy looked at him and held out his hand to the dragon, obviously commanding the creature to stop.

Snape closed his eyes, waiting tensely for death to take them both, and then after a moment of waiting opened them. The boy was looking at him curiously, as was the now less enraged but still frighteningly large and much closer dragon.

The boy touched his hand gently. "I'm sorry. My friends thought you were going to hurt me."

"I apologize," said Snape, his brain racing. A child who was friends with both a dragon and a unicorn; neither beasts were friends in the wild, so this was even more amazing. "I am a potions master and an ex-teacher and I tend to automatically chase children who run from me. At the school where I worked, it usually meant they were up to mischief. It was foolish of me to think that of you."

The boy smiled at him, "My cousin used to bully other children and then run away," he said. "The teachers never caught him and he would blame me."

"I presume," said Severus, beginning to regain his normal snark, "that this cousin isn't here."

"No," said the boy.

"How fortunate for us both," he remarked.

The child smiled and hissed something, and the dragon above them snorted in amusement, allowing clouds of smoke to shoot from its nostrils into the sky.

"I've been here for a long time," said the boy, "And you are the first human I've met."

Snape realized that the boy wasn't one of the enchanted beings said to inhabit the Holy Isle. The tale of the bully spoke of muggles and wizards in the so-called normal world.

"My name is Severus Snape, and I come here from time to time to visit the Isle and gather healing herbs," said Severus, "I am a wizard and we of the wizarding world account consider Avalon a blessed place that rarely allows visitors. The herbs here are powerful. Could you tell me your name, Child, and how you came to be here without your parents?"

The boy looked sorrowful and nervous.

"Will you promise me first that you won't send me back to my Aunt and Uncle?" asked the boy.

Snape's eyes examined the boy with a teacher's experience. The child was tanned brown as a nut from the sun but his chest was peppered with white scars indicating abuse. He kept himself from growling in anger.

"Are they the ones who hurt you?" he asked quietly. He noticed both the unicorn and the dragon tensed.

The boy's green eyes shone with surprise. "Yes, they did, and I am never going back." He proclaimed.

"I would never let any child be abused," Snape said softly, "Nor would I let them even so much as see you. They deserve serious punishment for hurting any child."

The boy smiled at him, a sunny healthy smile, "Okay, then – I'm Harry, Harry Potter," he said.

Snape had not fainted when presented with death by dragon fire, but he almost did now. This beautiful, powerful child was Lily's boy? Dumbledore had fallen from power as a result of placing the child with his murdering aunt. The whole wizarding world had mourned the child; even Snape had mourned his inability to protect the boy, although in private. Right now the thought of this little boy's escape from death, and being befriended and protected here on Avalon touched Snape's heart. His eyes burned and he realized to his horror that he was crying.

"How did you escape from your Aunt?" he asked softly, "A young man saw her push you into the Ocean . . . She is in prison now."

"Really, she got in trouble for killing me?" Harry looked amazed that it was against the law to kill small boys. "A dolphin came and lifted me up so I could breathe and he swam with me on his back for a very long time and brought me here. He visits sometimes."

Snape closed his eyes and thought of Lily, beautiful, kind, intelligent, fiery. "Magic has blessed you, Harry Potter," he whispered.

The dragon apparently said something, because Harry translated. "Scar says we should eat together. He will show you his lair." Harry looked seriously at Severus and said, "That's a great honor, Sir. Dragon's don't usually show people where they live."

Severus bowed formally to the dragon and said, "Thank you Scar. You honor me greatly." He followed the child, the unicorn and the dragon through the woods to a large cave. He would have sworn that Avalon was all wood lands and flat, but now he was at the foot of a mountain. He accepted it, knowing the whole island was magic. He also noticed that it was colder and snow covered the ground. Avalon, land of wonder and general confusion.

Inside the cave, Harry showed him the area where he kept a fire banked, and quickly began to heat water to make some kind of herbal tea. Severus stopped him. "I brought tea bags with me and bread. We could toast the bread and have a nice tea."

Harry smiled at him, green eyes shining, "I haven't had regular bread in a long time. That would be wicked!"

So they ate together. Harry made a great pot of tea in a cauldron made of brass that could be used for potions. He poured out some of the tea into a clean and ancient looking helmet and the dragon very delicately used his long claws to pick up the helmet and drank with great satisfaction.

"I had almost forgotten the taste of the lovely tea leaf. This is a treat," said Scar and Harry translated.

Severus was surprised to receive a sort of berry scone made with a type of flour he didn't recognize. He was even more surprised at the delicious smoked fish the boy served.

The boy drank the tea very solemnly, and commented, "I wasn't allowed tea, though I knew how to prepare it. This is wonderful."

"Your scones are delightful, what kind of flour did you use?" asked Severus.

"Acorn meal," said Harry, "I harvest it along with the squirrels. Sometimes I use a little arrow root too. It thickens things."

Severus felt puzzlement, "Where do you find arrowroot – it is usually found in South America or the Caribbean."

"All magical places seem to lead to Avalon," said Harry. "The island looks tiny from the water, but it vast on the inside. I have found rain forests and deserts and all sorts of places, even volcanoes. I am not sure if they are on Avalon or if it's attached to Avalon, but I visit and harvest what I can. When we are done, I will show you what I make."

And to say that Severus had an enchanted day would be true. Harry showed him a book made of handmade paper with drawings of hundreds of plants as well as pressed samples of plants. Each plant had a listing of things it could be used for. Some of the plants were ones that Severus had never heard of or seen. Others were extremely rare.

"This is astonishing" he said, enthralled with each page. Then he realized the boy was silent. He looked up.

Harry was blushing, and tears were shining in his eyes.

"No grownup has ever liked anything I did. Thank you."

Severus Snape was an austere and secretive man. He rarely touched anyone unless it was in self-defense. So it was a wonder to him that he gently took the child in his arms and kissed his forehead and hair and took the hero of wizardry onto his lap. "They were utter fools," he whispered, "Anyone with half a brain would be honored to have you as a child. You are wonderful."

"They must not have had much brains in that house," whispered the child and held on for dear life.

The dragon came over and uttered something. The boy in his arms laughed and said something that was definitely Parseltongue.

"You speak the tongue of snakes," said Severus. "I noticed you can communicate with all the magical creatures but that was definitely Parseltongue."

Harry shrugged, "Magic teaches us new things all the time. I told Scar what you and I said about my fam, er my relatives, and he said they didn't have enough brains for a good bite."

Snape snorted and then started laughing. "I wish I could speak with him, he seems like he is an excellent conversationalist."

Harry looked at him thoughtfully and then regretfully got out of his lap and went to his next great book. Snape followed and saw that this book was for potions. Each potion was carefully described and it's source (some were from the dragon). Severus itched to brew them and to find some of the unknown or lost herbs mentioned.

Then Harry turned a page to a potion Harry had made, "To speak the tongue of magical beasts", it said, and Severus looked at it. Basically it was potion to share the gift of beast-tongue with another by dint of sharing a drop of blood given with good will from one who had the gift.

"I have not tested it on a human," said Harry, "It does work on goblins and merfolk."

He stood up and went to a wooden chest and took out a vial that had been carefully labeled with the name of the potion, the date of creation, and Harry as brewer.

Sev's hands shook. The thought of talking to beasts warmed him. The thought of sharing potions with the great dragon here, made his blood ignite with a roaring inferno of intellectual fervor.

"If you want to try it, please feel free to look it over," said Harry, "It is permanent in nature. You will note that all of the ingredients work well together and none of them have odd interactions. I bespelled magic into the potion as well, so it should work."

"You bespelled magic into a potion?" Snape asked. While you had to have magic to make magic potions, no one actually bespelled magic into the substance. They relied on the ambient magic of their stirring as the means to adding magic.

Harry showed him the staff, "I take my magic and put it in the staff for emergencies, when someone is in danger. I also put magic into the cauldron and my stirring spoon so that it adds strength into the potion. Don't you do that?"

"No one in our world does that to my knowledge," said Snape softly, his eyes glowing now.

He took the potion. He was immediately sleepy, which he expected since reading the boy's meticulous instructions. When he woke, he heard Scar and Harry conversing.

"I really hope he enjoys talking with everyone. The magic squirrels tend to gossip, I hope that doesn't put him off," said the boy nervously.

"I am delighted at the thought of discussing magic with him. He seems very intelligent and has a very keen wit," said Scar.

Groggily, Snape got up and then smiled at Harry and Scar, "I understand you, oh Wise and Glorious Scar, and I too am delighted at the thought of conversing with you." He turned to Harry, "Thank you, this is a delightful gift".

Snape stayed for two weeks, gathering herbs with Harry, talking philosophy with Scar, met the Goblin family, talked with magical animals and then, reluctantly left for so-called civilization.

"Harry, I have people who need my medicines, or I'd stay here. You and Scar are the best company I have had in years and years. I will return the next time there is a good fog to get lost in." He hugged the boy, and bowed respectfully to Scar and Dances who accompanied him to his little boat.

XXXXXXXX

Piers was content until the day the reporter showed up. Since all the concern about child abuse started up, more children had been discovered being beaten and misused, so the subject was in the public eye again.

Piers was mopping the back room where all the supplies were and heard a voice behind him.

"Hello, Piers." A nice looking man with fancy clothing was standing there with a pad and pencil and a little tape recorder.

"Do you have permission to be here?" Piers asked.

"I'm surprised you care with your record," said the man. He smiled ingratiatingly.

Piers yelled for Mr. Tomlinson, the shop owner. Mr. Tomlinson raced into the area with a bat in his hands and confronted the reporter.

"Here, here, what are you doing sneaking about my property?" he yelled, getting Piers behind him.

"The public has a right to know about this boy! He knew Harry Potter was abused and only did something once the boy was murdered."

Piers felt like a monster, and felt tears squeezing their way out, but Mr. Tomlinson wasn't taking any guff.

"First of all, Piers, call the police and tell them this man broke into my shop without permission."

Piers picked up the phone and started dialing.

Mr. Tomlinson began to berate the reporter, "I don't know about you at all. You show no identification, you sneak in the back and accost a minor child. And now you intimate that the child had no rights because of the Potter child. Listen to me, you great oaf, Piers was wrong, but he didn't know better. He saw the Dursleys, who were supposedly respectable adults and followed their lead until he saw that woman kill her own kin. Then he did the right thing and told the Police. He's changed since then and been a good lad. He helps at the school and is a junior monitor. All the kiddies trust him. He helps his mum too and he has this job so he can buy gifts for Christmas. None of the animals are afraid of him. He's changing his life for the better and he doesn't need a great booby like you coming around and harassing him."

Mr. Tomlinson didn't let the reporter leave. The police showed up and the man started up on freedom of the press and Mr. Tomlinson fussed about sneaking about like a weirdo and terrifying a child.

At first Piers really was terrified and feeling guilty to boot, but Mr. Tomlinson, who had seemed to be a strict old man, was standing up for him passionately and it made Piers feel better inside. He wasn't sure he wanted to be noticed for doing better, he just wanted to do right, so this was a surprise. His stomach, which had hurt, stopped hurting and his chest felt warm.

The police listened to Mr. Tomlinson and arrested the reporter for being a right git and trying to get an unauthorized interview with a minor child. The bobbies left with the reporter in tow, still yelling. Piers stood and watched them take the man away with Mr. Tomlinson.

"Thank you, Sir." He said, "He scared me."

"You did the right thing, Laddie, now get back the work, the puppies still need to be fed."

Piers understood inside now that Mr. Tomlinson might seem mean, but he was a stand-up man to have on your side. He got back to work and mentally added a Christmas present for Mr. Tomlinson to his list.

Piers volunteered at School to help the kiddies with the School Christmas party. He had done careful shopping and learned a lot about finding the best pressies for the best price. He had enough to get candy and little things for his kiddies as he thought of them. He was their protector, so it was up to him to do something for them. He had never realized how many friends he had now.

He had even purchased little presents for his teachers, something he would have fought against last year.

The littles party was cute. Piers helped the teachers make a piñata for them and swung the piñata while littles bravely went forth to defeat the swinging monster that held candy and treats.

What was a shock was receiving candies, small trifles and cards from his littles. He saved the cards.

At work after school he shyly went up to Mr. Tomlinson. "Sir, thank you so much for this job and all the stuff you taught me about pets. He handed the old man a brightly wrapped package. He had noted that Mr. Tomlinson smoked a pipe, so Piers had found him a good supply of his favorite tobacco.

Making curious noises, the old man opened the package and then smiled. "You're a standup lad, Laddie. You can keep working after the holidays, you do very good work and the pets take to you. And thank you for the present. It's very thoughtful."

Then he handed Piers his pay envelope and it had a bonus in it!

XXXXXXX

On Christmas Day, Piers got up early and made breakfast for Mum and helped her to prepare a roast. Then they went to the parlor and sat in front of the tiny artificial tree that they had used since he was a child.

"Mum, you open your presents first," he begged and Mum looked interested.

He got Mum a new vacuum cleaner, which she needed, a new electric kettle because the other was getting old, a box of fancy candy and her favorite perfume. She opened each box and cried and then laughed and then hugged him. It was the best day ever, and that didn't count the presents he got. His Mum looked beautiful and young. She had never looked like that before, and Piers felt him doing all his homework and working hard and helping at home was part of that. It was like a special magic.

He gave Officer Pendleton a big Christmas card and addressed it, "to my hero". He gave the officer a gift card for a men's shop that Mum approved of.


End file.
